Merrill Lynch's board approves $6B buyback program

MichaelBaron

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Merrill Lynch
MER, +1.71%
Monday said its board has approved the buyback of up to $6 billion worth of its common stock. "While we have increased our quarterly common stock dividends by 25% in each of the past two years, we continue to emphasize repurchases in order to maintain capital management flexibility," said Jeff Edwards, Merrill's chief financial officer, in a press release. As of Dec. 31, Merrill had 970.7 million outstanding shares on a diluted basis. Shares of the New York-based financial services provider closed Friday at $76.76, up 0.3%.

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